Beyond the Rhetoric

Top 12 Beyond the Rhetoric Blog Posts of 2012

The subject matter of Beyond the Rhetoric can be best described as eclectic. I approach a lot of different topics here, from the advice on logistics of running a small business to reviews of some of Vancouver’s most popular eateries. All in all, over 300 blog posts were published in 2012 and they do a good job of representing this broad spectrum of material.

It wouldn’t really be fair of me to look up the 12 blog posts that had the most page views in 2012, because this gives an unfair advantage to the posts published earlier in the year. And so, what I’ve done is dug into my Google Analytics account and had a look to see which post in each calendar month received the most views. And here is what I found.

“When it comes to writing style, one tactic that I like to use from time to time is something called inversion. This can take on many different forms, but the inverted sentence structure is one of the most common ones. Basically, you take what would normally be the second “half” of your sentence and put it in front.”

“Fray is quirky, to be sure, but it’s also trying to offer good comfort food. That gets into the territory of places like Burgoo Bistro. One such example of this is the Fat Bastard Pork Belly. You get a nice thick wedge of local pork belly, along with an apple peach compote, white balsamic chive reduction, and fresh slaw.”

“In previous Grammar 101 posts, I’ve discussed things like either/or vs. neither/nor and how certain word pairs should almost always be used together. That’s why it frustrates me when someone wants to provide a list, but opts to use the word “from” without following it up with “to.””

“As John Steinbeck reminds us above, we come to like summer, because it is such a stark contrast to the cold of winter. This is the same reason why people escape to all inclusive resorts in sunnier climes.”

“Which one is correct? Whenever you use the “between” construction as shown above, the two numbers that “book-end” the range should be separated by the word “and.” It is always between X and Y, never between X to Y. This is related in some ways to the from-to construction that we discussed earlier this year.”

“Indeed, one of the greatest lessons we can learn from Dangerfield is that we all need to have a sense of humor about ourselves. If you can’t laugh at yourself, then you really shouldn’t be laughing at anyone else.”

“The dining room isn’t particularly special, looking like any number of other sushi joints in Metro Vancouver, but it is well-lit and airy. One thing that did strike me, though, is that our server took our order on an iPad. They have a wireless network (no free Wi-Fi for patrons, unfortunately) and it looks like the food orders are sent directly to the chefs. That’s pretty nifty.”

“On the recommendation of a good friend who was looking for a replacement for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, he suggested I check out Supernatural. It’s a pretty darn good replacement – full of cheese, full of supernatural things to kill and most importantly, full of Vancouver.”

“Real estate is increasingly expensive in Vancouver, but that doesn’t mean you can’t shoehorn a complete home in your tiny condo. In fact, a special exhibit called Close Quarters was at the show, put together by interior designer Alykhan Velji. The display suite was a mere 300 square feet, but it had a complete kitchen, two beds, a couch, a dining table and more.”

“On the one hand, we have social networks like Facebook that make it so easy to amass hundreds of “friends,” but how many of these people are really your friends? How many of these people have you actually met in person and with whom you’ve forged some sort of real connection?”

“As its namesake suggests, the signature items here are the kim bab. These are essentially the Korean version of sushi, except they use Korean style seaweed in this maki-style rolls and the fillings tend to be cooked food, rather than raw fish like their Japanese counterparts. Also on the menu are rice bowls, noodle bowls (ramen), spicy rice cakes (bok ki) and cold noodles (naeng myeon).”

Did you have a favorite blog post from 2012 that I missed? Is there a subject area that you’d like me to cover more (or cover less)? I’m always open to feedback, so do make use of that comment form below. Here’s to a happy and healthy 2013 filled with more blogging.

Most of the time posts that get a lot of comments are the more interesting or thought provoking. That leads to better overall quality of comments. I have rarely seen any post on btr degenerate into argument or low quality, high volume comments.

In fact the post that probably has the largest volume of posts that were interesting, while albeit a little off was one that lead to a banter about star trek. Michael, could you refresh me on the original post that was? I would actually like to read it again.